The most important thing the Maui County Liquor Commission will do is going on right now and the commissioners don’t seem to give a damn about it. I’m referring to the revising of the Liquor Rules—the bible that tells the LC where to get off.
The massive process came up during the Feb. 9 and Apr. 13 Commission hearings. The Retail Liquor Dealers Association’s request for a rule change prompted the first discussion; Haleakala Distillers instigated the second talk on Apr. 13.
In neither meeting did any of the commissioners ask about the vastly complex and important matter of rewriting the rules. In fact, the commissioners have so far asked zero questions on the record about the whole rule-changing process.
They haven’t discussed it during any hearing and haven’t showed the slightest bit of interest in them, even though revising the county’s liquor laws is by far the most important thing they will be doing during their terms of office. No one has even put on the record any discussion of the LC’s plan to hold public hearings on the revised rules, though Liquor Control Director Franklyn Silva has mentioned them on two occasions.
It’s not like the Commissioners simply aren’t paying attention. For instance, in his very first meeting as Commission Chairman on Apr. 13, Donald Fuji pointed out a tiny, arcane error on page 185 of the minutes of the Mar. 9, 2005 Commission meeting minutes.
So after the Apr. 13 Commission hearing I asked Silva when the LC was going to hold public hearings on the rule changes.
He very patiently explained that first they’d go through the rules carefully. Then they’d hold workshops, first with industry groups, then with small business associations. Then they’d hold public hearings in Wailuku, the West Side, Hana, Molokai and Lanai. Then they’d write up the revised rules.
“The whole thing will take about a year,” Silva said.
That was great, I said. When are you going to hold public hearings?
“No idea,” he said.
How beautiful that would look in the Commission minutes.
MTW
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